Alcohols and alcohol-containing mixtures are known to possess bactericidal activity and to prevent nosocomial infections in hospital settings between patients, nurses and doctors. The use of alcohol based compositions is declining due to their inherent dehydrating properties which is caused by the denaturing and delipidizing of the skin's lipid molecules. It is appreciated in the art that lipids in stratum corneum of the skin are important in the barrier properties.
In an attempt to address the dehydration and delipidization problem, attempts have been made to minimize the dehydration effects of the alcohol systems. U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,486 discloses the use of polymeric viscosifying agents which have been added to the compositions to reduce evaporation and provide moisturization. While this approach has reduced the evaporation rate of the alcohol, the compositions lack the feel, moisturization and non-greasy texture sought by medical professionals.
It would be highly desirable to provide an effective alcohol-containing antimicrobial composition that possesses the feel and moisturizing attributes of a hand cream and lotion. It is also desirable to use chemical ingredients that provide the appearance of moisturizing products to overcome the perceived drying of topical alcohol-containing formulations. These two aspects in any product or a formulation would provide multi-functions, such as antibacterial efficacy, mildness, moisturization and protection.